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JEWISH    CONTRIBUTIONS 


TO  CIVILIZATION 


BY  D.  G.  LYON,  OF  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 


AN    ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  IN  CHICAGO  BEFORE  THE 


ON  SEPTEMBER  18,  1893 


BOSTON,  1893 


JEWISH    CONTRIBUTIONS 


TO  CIVILIZATION 


BY  D.  G.  LYON,  OF  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 


AN    ADDRESS 

DELIVERED  IN  CHICAGO  BEFORE  THE 

WORLD'S  PARLIAMENT  OF  RELIGIONS 

ON  SEPTEMBER  18,  1893 

BOSTON,  1893 


Stack 
Annex 


U) 


JEWISH  CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  CIVILIZATION. 


BY  D.  G.   LYON. 


[This  address  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  author's  studies  in  connec- 
tion with  a  course  of  instruction  on  the  "  History  of  Israel,"  which  he 
gives  annually  to  the  students  of  Harvard  University.  Under  the  title 
* 'Columbus  and  the  Jew,"  it  was  first  delivered  at  the  "Temple  of 
the  Congregation  of  the  Sons  of  Israel  and  David,"  Providence,  R.  I., 
as  a  part  of  the  Columbian  Celebration  of  that  Society,  on  October  21, 
1892.  It  was  afterwards  read  before  the  Ministers'  Club,  of  which  the 
writer  is  a  member ;  before  a  group  of  the  members  of  the  Elysium 
Club,  Boston ;  and  in  its  present  somewhat  modified  form,  before  the 
rirst  World's  Parliament  of  Religions,  Columbus  Hall,  Chicago,  Sept. 
1 8,  1893.  This  explanation  may  make  clearer  certain  of  the  forms 
of  expression  employed.  The  address  has  appeared  in  full  in  the 
Chicago  I  liter- Ocean,  of  Sept.  19,  1893,  and  in  Vol.  II.  of  the 
"  World's  Parliament  of  Religions,"  edited  by  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H. 
Barrows,  Chicago,  1893.  In  sending  it  out  again,  the  writer  hopes 
that  it  may  aid  in  hastening  the  era  of  brotherly  love  so  beautifully 
foretold  by  the  ancient  Hebrew  prophet.] 


In  this  glad  Columbian  year,  when  all  the  world  is  rejoicing  with 
us,  and  in  this  hall  consecrated  to  the  greatest  idea  of  the  century,  I 
could  perform  no  task  more  welcome  than  that  to  which  I  have  been 
assigned,  —  the  task  of  paying  a  tribute  based  on  history.  I  shall 
use  the  word  Jew,  not  in  the  religious,  but  in  the  ethnic  sense.  In 
so  doing,  the  antithesis  to  "  Jew  "  is  not  Christian,  but  non-Jew,  or 
Gentile. 


The  position  of  the  Jews  in  the  world  is  peculiar.  They  may 
be  Englishmen,  Germans,  Americans,  and  as  such,  loyal  to  the 
land  of  their  birth.  They  may  or  may  not  continue  to  adhere  to  a 
certain  phase  of  religion.  But  they  cannot  avoid  being  known  as 
the  scattered  fragments  of  a  nation.  Most  of  them  are  as  distinctly 
marked  by  mental  traits  and  by  physiognomy  as  is  an  Englishman,  a 
German,  or  a  Chinaman. 

The  Jew,  as  thus  described,  is  in  our  midst  an  American,  and  has 
all  reasons  to  be  glad  which  belong  to  the  community  at  large ;  but 
his  unique  position  today,  and  his  importance  in  history,  justify  the 
inquiry  whether  he  may  not  have  special  reasons  for  rejoicing  in  this 
auspicious  year. 

I.  Such  ground  for  rejoicing  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  discovery 
and  settlement  of  America  was  the  work  of  faith.  Columbus  be- 
lieved in  the  existence  and  attainableness  of  that  which  neither  he  nor 
his  fellows  had  ever  seen.  Apart  from  his  own  character  and  his 
aims  in  the  voyage  of  discovery,  it  was  this  belief  that  saved  him 
from  discouragement  and  held  his  barque  true  to  its  westward  course. 
What  though  he  found  something  greater  than  he  sought?  It  was 
.his  belief  in  the  smaller  that  made  the  greater  discovery  possible. 

What  is  true  of  the  discovery  is  true  of  the  settlement  of  America. 
This,  too,  was  an  act  of  faith.  The  colonists  of  Chesapeake  and  of 
Massachusetts  Bays  left  the  comforts  of  the  old  world,  braved  the 
dangers  of  sea,  and  cold,  and  savage  populations,  because  they  be- 
lieved in  something  which  could  be  felt,  though  not  seen,  the  guid- 
ance of  a  hand  which  directs  the  destiny  of  individuals  and  of 
empires. 

Now  the  Jews,  as  a  people,  stand  in  a  pre-eminent  degree  for  faith. 
They  must  be  judged,  not  by  those  of  their  number  who,  in  our  day, 
give  themselves  over  to  a  life  of  materialism,  but  by  their  best  repre- 
sentatives, and  by  the  general  current  of  their  history.  At  the  foun- 
tain of  their  being  they  place  a  man  whose  name  is  the  synonym  of 
faith.  Abraham,  the  first  Jew,  nurtured  in  the  comforts  and  refine- 
ments of  a  civilization  whose  grandeur  is  just  beginning  to  find  due 
appreciation,  hears  an  inward  compelling  voice,  bidding  him  forsake 
the  land  of  his  fathers,  and  go  forth,  he  knows  not  whither,  to  lay  in 
the  distant  West  the  foundations  of  the  empire  of  faith.  The  hopes 
of  the  entire  subsequent  world  encamped  in  the  tent  of  the  wanderer 


5 

from    Ur    of    Chaldea.      The    migration    was    a    splendid    adventure, 
prophetic  of  the  great  development  of  which  it  was  the  beginning. 

What  was  it  but  the  audacity  of  faith  which,  in  later  times,  enabled 
an  Isaiah  to  defy  the  most  powerful  army  in  the  world,  and  Jeremiah 
to  be  firm  in  his  convictions  in  the  midst  of  a  citv  full  of  enemies? 
What  but  faith  could  have  held  together  the  exiles  in  Babvlon,  and 
could  have  inspired  them  once  more  to  exchange  this  home  of  ease 
and  luxury  for  the  hardships  and  uncertainties  of  their  devastated 
Palestinian  hills?  It  was  faith  that  nerved  the  arm  of  the  Maccabees 
for  their  heroic  struggle,  and  the  sublimity  of  faith  when  the  daunt- 
less daughter  of  Zion  defied  the  power  of  Rome.  The  brute  force  of 
Rome  won  the  clay,  but  the  Jews,  dispersed  throughout  the  world, 
have  still  been  true  to  the  foundation  principle  of  their  history.  They 
believe  that  God  has  spoken  to  their  fathers,  and  that  he  has  not 
forsaken  the  children,  and  through  that  belief  thev  endure. 

II.  A  second  ground  for  Jewish  rejoicing  today  is  that  America, 
in  its  development,  is  realizing  Jewish  dreams.  A  bolder  dreamer 
than  the  Hebrew  prophet  the  world  has  not  known.  He  revelled  in 
glowing  pictures  of  home  and  prosperity  and  brotherhood  in  the  good 
times  that  were  yet  to  be.  The  strength  of  his  wring  as  poet  is  seen 
in  his  ability  to  take  these  flights  at  times  when  all  outward  appear- 
ances were  a  denial  of  his  hopes.  It  was  not  the  prosperous  state 
whose  continuance  he  forsaw,  but  the  decaying  state,  destined  to  be 
shattered,  then  purified,  then  rebuilt,  then  to  continue  forever.  It  was 
not  external  power,  but  external  power  in  alliance  with  inward  good- 
ness, whose  description  called  forth  his  highest  genius.  His  dream,  it 
is  true,  had  its  temporal  and  its  local  coloring.  His  coming  state,  built 
on  righteousness,  was  to  be  a  kingdom,  because  this  was  the  form  of 
government  with  which  he  was  familiar.  The  seat  of  this  empire 
was  to  be  Jerusalem,  and  his  patriot  heart  could  have  made  no  other 
choice.  We  are  now  learning  to  distinguish  the  essential  ideas  of  a 
writer  from  the  phraseology  in  which  they  find  expression.  A  Jewish 
empire  does  not  exist,  and  Jerusalem  is  not  the  mistress  of  the  world. 
And  yet  the  dream  of  the  prophet  is  true.  A  home  for  the  oppressed 
has  been  found,  a  home  where  prosperity  and  brotherhood  dwell 
together.  Substitute  America  for  Jerusalem  and  a  republic  for  a  king- 
dom and  the  correctness  of  the  prophet's  dream  is  realized.  Let  us 
examine  the  details  of  the  picture. 


i.  The  prophet  foresees  a  home.  In  this  lie  is  true  to  one  of  the 
marked  traits  of  his  people.  Who  has  sung  more  sweetly  than  the 
Hebrew  poet  of  home,  where  every  man  shall  "  sit  under  his  vine  and 
fig  tree,  and  none  shall  make  him  afraid  ;  "  where  the  father  of  a  large 
family  is  like  the  hunter  whose  quiver  is  full  of  arrows  ;  where  the 
children  are  likened  to  olive  plants  around  the  father's  table ;  and 
where  a  cardinal  virtue  of  childhood  is  honor  to  father  and  mother.' 
And  where  shall  one  look  today  for  finer  types  of  domestic  felicity 
than  may  be  found  in  Jewish  homes?  Or,  taking  the  word  k'  home" 
in  its  larger  sense,  where  shall  one  surpass  the  splendid  patriotism  of 
the  Hebrew  exile  : 

••  If  I  forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem, 

Let  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning. 

Let  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth, 

If  I  remember  thee  not: 

If  I  prefer  not  Jerusalem 

Above  mv  chief  jov." 

Yet,  nowithstandimg  this  love  of  local  habitation,  the  Jew  has  been 
for  many  cruel  centuries  a  wanderer  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  The 
nations  have  raged,  the  kings  of  the  earth  have  set  themselves  and 
have  taken  counsel  together,  and  the  standing  miracle  of  history  is  that 
the  Jew  has  not  been  ground  to  powder  as  between  the  upper  and  the 
nether  millstone.  But  these  hardships  are  now,  let  us  hope,  near  their 
end.  This  young  republic  has  welcomed  the  Jew  who  has  fled  from 
the  oppression  of  the  old  world.  Its  constitution  declares  the  equality 
of  men,  and  experience  demonstrates  our  power  to  assimilate  all 
comers  who  desire  to  be  one  with  us.  Here  thought  and  its  expres- 
sion are  free.  Here  is  the  restful  haven  which  realizes  the  prophet's 
dream.  Not  the  Jew  only,  but  all  the  oppressed  of  earth,  may 
here  find  welcome  and  home.  The  inspiring  example  of  Columbia's 
portals  always  open  to  the  world  is  destined  to  alleviate  the  ills  and 
check  the  crimes  of  man  against  man  throughout  all  lands.  And  what 
though  here  and  there  a  hard  and  unphilanthropic  soul  would  bolt 
Columbia's  door  and  recall  her  invitation  or  check  her  free  intercourse 
with  nations  !  This  is  but  the  eddy  in  her  course,  and  to  heed  these 
harsh  advisers  she  must  be  as  false  to  her  own  past  as  to  her  splendid 
ideal.  Chinese  exclusion  acts  and  some  of  the  current  doctrines  of 
protection  are  as  un-American  as  they  are  inhuman. 


2.  But  the  Jewish  dream  was  no  less  of  prosperity  than  of  home. 
America   realizes   this  feature  of   the  dream  to  an  extent  never  seen 
before.     Where  should  one  seek  for  a  parallel  to  her  inexhaustible  re- 
sources, and  to  her  phenomenal  material   development?     No  element 
of  the  community  has  understood  better  than  the  Jewish  to  reap  the 
harvest  which  lias  ever  tempted  the  sickles  of  industry.      Jewish  names 
are  numerous  and  potent  in  all  the  exchanges  and  in  all  great  commer- 
cial enterprises.      The  spirit  that  schooled    itself  by  hard  contact  with 
Judean  hills,  that  has  been   held  in   check  bv  adversity  for  twenty-five 
centuries,  shows  in  this  free  land  the  elasticity  of  the  uncaged  eagle. 
Not  only  trade,  but  all  other  avenues  of  advance  are  here  open  to  men 
of  endowments,  of  whatsoever  race  and  clime.      In  journalism,  in  edu- 
cation, in  philanthropy,  the  Jews  will  average  as  \vell  as  the  Gentiles, 
perhaps  better,  while  many  individual  Jews  have  risen  to  an  enviable 
eminence. 

3.  A  third  feature  in  the  Jewish  dream,  an  era  of  brotherhood  and 
good  feeling,  is  attaining  here  a  beautiful  realization. 

(1)  Nowhere  have  we  finer  illustration  of  this  than   in  the  attitude 
toward  the  Jews  of  the  great  seats  of  learning.     The  oldest  and  largest 
American    university    employs    its    instructors  without    applying  any 
test  of  race  or  religion.      In  its  faculty  Jews  are  always  found.     To 
its  liberal  feast  of  learning  there  is  a  constant  and  increasing  resort  of 
ambitious  Jewish  youth.      Harvard  is,  of  course,   not  peculiar  in  this 
regard.      There  are  other  seats  of  learning  where  wisdom  invites  as 
warmly  to  her  banquet  halls.     The  spectacle  at  Harvard  is,  however, 
specially  gratifying,  because  it  seems  to  be  prophetically  embodied  in 
her  seal,    >4  Christo  et  Ecclesiae,"  an  acknowledgement  of  her  obliga- 
tions to  the  Jew  and  the  dedication  of  her  powers  to  a  Jewish  car- 
penter and  to  a  Jewish  institution. 

(2)  The  era  of  brotherhood  is  also  seen  in  the  co-operation  of  Jew 
and  Gentile  to  further  good  causes.     To  refer  again,  by  permission,  to 
Harvard  University,  one  of  the  unique  and  most  significant  collections 
is  a  Semitic  museum,  fostered  by  many  friends,  but  chiefly  by  a  Jew. 
And  it  is  a  pleasure  to  add  here  that  one  of  the  great  departments  of 
the  library  of  the  University  of  Chicago  has  been  adopted  by  the  Jews. 
Although  taxed  to  the  utmost  to  care  for  their  destitute  brethren,  who 
seek  our  shores  to  escape  old  world  persecution,  the  Jews  are  still  ever 
ready  to  join  others  in  good  works  for  the  relief  of  human   need.      If 


Baron  Hirsch's  colossal  benefactions  distributed  in  America  are  re- 
stricted to  Jews,  it  is  because  this  philanthropist  sees  in  these  unfortu- 
nate refugees  the  most  needy  subjects  of  benefaction. 

(3)  But  most  significant  of  all  is  the  fact  that  \ve  are  beginning  to 
understand  one  another  in  a  religious  sense.  When  Jewish  rabbis 
are  invited  to  deliver  religious  lectures  at  great  universities,  and  when 
Jewish  congregations  welcome  Columbian  addresses  from  Christian 
ministers,  we  seem  to  have  taken  a  long  step  toward  acquaintance  with 
one  another.  The  discussion  now  going  on  among  Jews  regarding  the 
adoption  of  Sunday  as  the  day  of  public  worship,  and  the  Jewish 
recognition  of  the  greatness  of  Jesus,  which  finds  expression  in  syno- 
gogue  addresses  —  such  things  are  prophecies,  whose  significance  the 
thoughtful  hearer  will  not  fail  to  perceive. 

Now  what  is  the  result  of  this  closer  union,  of  which  I  have  in- 
stanced a  few  examples  in  learning,  in  philanthropy,  and  in  affairs 
religious?  Is  it  not  the  removal  of  mutual  misunderstandings?  So 
long  as  Judaism  and  American  Christianity  stand  aloof,  each  will  con- 
tinue to  ascribe  to  the  other  the  vices  of  its  most  unworthv  representa- 
tives. But  when  they  meet  and  learn  to  know  one  another,  they  find 
a  great  common  standing-ground.  Judging  each  by  its  best,  each  can 
have  for  the  other  only  respect  and  good  will. 

The  one  great  exception  to  the  tenor  of  these  remarks,  is  in  matters 
social.  There  does  not  exist  that  free  intercourse  between  Jews  and 
non-Jews  which  one  might  reasonably  expect.  One  of  the  causes  is 
religious  prejudice  on  both  sides,  but  the  chief  cause  is  the  evil  alreadv 
mentioned,  of  estimating  Jews  and  non-Jews  by  the  least  worthy  mem- 
bers of  the  two  classes.  The  Jew  who  is  forced  to  surrender  all  his 
goods  and  flee  from  Russian  oppression,  or  who  purchases  the  right 
to  remain  in  the  Czar's  empire  by  a  sacrifice  of  his  faith,  can  hardlv  be 
blamed  if  he  sees  only  the  bad  in  those  who  call  themselves  Christians. 
If  one  of  these  refugees  prospers  in  America,  and  carries  himself  in 
a  lordly  manner,  and  makes  himself  distasteful  even  to  the  cultivated 
among  his  co-religionists,  can  it  be  wondered  at  that  others  transfer 
his  bad  manners  to  all  Jews?  But  let  Jew  and  non-Jew  come  to 
understand  one  another,  and  the  refinement  in  the  one  will  receive  its 
full  recognition  from  the  refinement  in  the  other.  Acquaintance  and 
a  good  heart  are  the  checks  against  the  unthinking  condemnation  bv 
classes. 


III.  A  third  and  main  reason  why  the  Jew  should  rejoice  in  this 
Columbian  year  is  that  American  society  is,  in  an  important  sen-e. 
produced  and  held  together  bv  Jewish  thought.  The  justification  of 
this  assertion  forces  on  us  the  question,  -'What  has  the  Jew  done  for 
civilization  ?  " 

i.  First  of  all,  he  has  given  us  the  Bible,  the  scriptures,  old  and 
new.  It  matters  not  for  this  discussion  that  the  Jews,  as  a  religious 
^ect.  have  never  given  to  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  the  dignity 
of  canonicitv.  It  suffices  that  these  books,  with  one  or  possibly  two 
exceptions,  were  written  bv  men  of  Jewish  birth. 

1 i )  And  where  shall  one  go  if  not  to  the  Bible  to  find  the  noblest 
literature  of  the  soul?      Where  shall  one  find  so  well  expressed  as  in 
the    Psalms    the    longing    for    God    and  the   deep   satisfaction    of   his 
presence?      Where  is  burning  indignation  against  wrong-doing  more 
strongly  portraved  than  in  the  Prophets?     Where  such  a  picture  as  the 
Gospel   gives  of   love  that  consumes  itself    in   sacrifice?     The  highest 
hopes  and  moods  of  the  soul  reached  such  attainment  among  the  Jews 
2.000  years  ago  that  the  intervening  ages  have  not  yet  shown  one  step 
in  advance. 

(2)  Viewed  as  a  hand-book  of  ethics,  the  Bible  has  a  power  second 
only  to  its  exalted  position  as  a  classic  of  the  soul.     The  "Ten  Words," 
though   negatively  expressed,   are,   in  their  second  half,  an  admirable 
statement  of  the  fundamental   relations  of  man  to  man.      Paul's  eulogy 
of  love  is  an   unmatched   masterpiece  of  the  foundation   principle    of 
right  living.      The  adoption   of  the  Golden    Rule  by  all   men    would 
banish  crime  and  convert  earth  into  a  paradise. 

(3)  The  characters  depicted  in  the  Bible  are  in  their  way  no  less 
effective  than  the  teachings  regarding   ethics    and    religion.      Indeed, 
that  which  is  so  admirable   in  these  characters  is  the  rare  combination 
of  ethics  and  religion   which  finds  in  them  expression.      In  Abraham 
we  see  hospitality  and  faith  attaining  to  adequate  expression.      Grant, 
if  one  will,  the  claim  that  part  of  the  picture  is  unhistorical.      Aye,  let 
him  have  it  who  will  that  such  a  person  as  Abraham   never  existed  at 
all.      The  character,  as  a  creation,  does  as  much  honor  to  the  Jew  who 
conceived  it  as  the  man,  if  real,  does  to  the  race  to  which  he  belonged. 
Moses  is  the  pattern  of  the  unselfish,  state-building  patriot,  who  despised 
hardships    because    tkhe    endured    as    seeing    him    who  is    invisible." 
Jeremiah    will   forever  be  inspiration   to  reformers  whose  lot  is  cast  in 


IO 

degenerate  (lavs.  Paul  is  the  synonym  of  self-denying  zeal,  which  can 
be  content  with  nothing  less  than  a  gigantic  effort  to  carry  good  news 
to  the  entire  world. 

And  Jesus  was  a  Jew.  How  often  is  this  fact  forgotten,  so  com- 
pletely is  he  identified  with  the  history  of  the  world  at  large  !  We  say 
to  ourselves  that  such  a  commanding  personality  is  too  universal  for 
national  limitations.  We  overlook  perchance  the  Judean  birth  and  the 
Galilean  training.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  attempt  an  estimate  of  the 
significance  of  the  character  and  work  of  Jesus  for  human  progress. 
Nothing  short  of  omniscience  could  perform  such  a  task.  My  purpose 
is  attained  by  reminding  myself  and  others  anew  of  the  nationality  of 
him  whom  an  important  part  of  the  world  has  agreed  to  consider  the 
greatest  and  best  of  human  kind.  I  do  not  forget  that  the  Jews  have 
not  yet  in  large  numbers  admitted  the  greatness  of  Jesus,  but  this 
failure  may  be  largely  explained  as  the  effect  of  certain  theological 
teachings  concerning  his  person,  and  of  the  sufferings  which  Jews 
have  endured  at  the  hands  of  those  who  bear  his  name.  But  in  that 
name  and  that  personality  rightly  conceived,  there  is  such  potency  to 
bless  and  to  elevate,  that  I  can  see  no  reason  why  Jesus  should  not  be- 
come to  the  Jews  the  greatest  and  most  beloved  of  all  their  illustrious 
teachers. 

Viewing  the  Bible  as  a  whole,  as  a  library  of  ethics,  of  religion,  of 
ethical-religious  character,  its  influence  on  language,  on  devotion,  on 
growth  in  a  hundred  directions,  exceeds  all  human  computation. 

2.  Along  with  the  sacred  writings  have  come  to  the  race  through 
the  Jew  certain  great  doctrines. 

(1)  Foremost  of  these  is  the  belief  in  one  God.      Greek   philoso- 
phy, it  is  true,  was  also  able  to  formulate  a  doctrine  of  monotheism,, 
but  the   monotheism    which    has   perpetuated  itself  is  that  announced 
by  Hebrew  seer  and  not  by  Greek  philosopher.      Something  was  want- 
ing to  make  the  doctrine  more  than  a  cold  formula,  and  that  something; 
the  Jew  supplied.      It   is  the  phase  of  monotheism   which   he  attained 
that   has   commended   itself  to   the    peoples  of  Europe  and    America. 
to  the  teeming  millions  of  Islam,  and  whose  adoption  by  the  remaining1 
nations  of  earth  is  more  than  a  pious  hope. 

(2)  This  God,  who  is  one,  is   not  a  blind  force,  working  on    lines, 
but  half  defined,  coming  to  consciousness  only  as  he  attains  to  expres- 
sion  in    his   universe,  but  he   is  a   wise  architect,   whose   devising  all 


1 1 

things    are.      "The    heavens     declare    his    glory    and    the    firmament 
showeth   his  handiwork." 

(3)  His  government  is   well   ordered  and   right.      Chance  and   fate 
have  here  no  place.      No  sparrow  falls  without   him.      The  very  hairs. 
of  your  head  are   numbered.      Righteousness  is  the  habitation  of  his. 
throne.      Shall  not  the  judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right? 

(4)  This  one  God,  maker  and  governor  of  all  things,  is   more  ;    he 
is  our  Father.      Man  is  created  in   his  image,  man's  nostrils  set  vibra- 
ting with  the  divine  breath.      The  prayer  of  all  prayers  begins  :    "  Our 
Father."     What  infinite  dignity  and  value  does  this  doctrine  place  upon 
the  human  soul  !      From  God  we  come,  and  his  perpetual  care  we  are. 
How  this  conviction  lifts  men  above  all  pettiness  and  discouragement! 
Am    I   his,  co-worker  with   him   on   lines  which   he   has   preordained? 
Then  mine  the  joyful  task  to  work  with  zeal  in   the  good  cause  whose 
sure  success  is  seen  by  him,  though  not  by  me. 

(5)  If  God  be  our  father,   then  we  are  brothers.      The  convenient 
distinctions  among"  men,  the  division  of  men  into  classes,  are  all  super-- 
ficial  —  all  based  on  externals.      In  essence  men  are  one.      If  we  be  all 
brothers,  then  brotherly  duties  rest  upon   us  all.      Due  recognition  of 
our  brotherhood  would  stay  the  act  or  thought  of  wrong  and  open   in 
every   heart   a    fountain    of    love.      Brothers?     Then   will   I   seek   the 
Father's  features  in  every  face  and  try  to  arouse  in  every  soul  the  con- 
sciousness of  its  lofty  kinship. 

(6)  The  immortality  of  the  soul,  though  not  distinctively  a  Jewish 
belief,  is  implied  in  much  of  the  Old  Testament,  is  clearly  announced 
in  Daniel,  is  well  defined  in  the  centuries  preceding  our  era,  and  in  the 
New  Testament  is  often  stated  and  everywhere  assumed.     The  doc- 
trine was  rescued  by  the  monotheism  of  the  Jew  from   the  grotesque 
features  and  ceremonies  which  characterized  it  among  the  Babylonians, 
the  Egyptians,  and  the  Greeks.     The  spritual  genius  of  the  Jew,  while 
asserting  unequivocally  the  fact  and  emphasizing  its  moral  significance, 
has  wisely  abstained  from  an  expression  of  opinion   regarding  a  thou- 
sand details. 

(7)  By  the  side  of  these  great  doctrines  concerning  God,  his  father- 
hood,   man's  brotherhood,  the   soul,   its  dignity  and  immortality,   we 
must    place  yet  another,    the   Jewish   conception  of  the    golden    age. 
This  age  to  him  is  not  past,  but  future.      He  had,  it  is  true,  his  pic- 
ture of  Eden,  that  garden  of  God,  where  the  first  man   held   free  con- 


I  2 

verse  with  his  Maker.  But  this  picture  is  not  of  Jewish  origin.  It 
came  from  Babvlon  and  never  succeeded  in  making  a  strong  impression 
on  the  national  thought.  The  Old  Testament  makes  but  little  of  it  out- 
side of  the  narrative  in  Genesis.  In  view  of  the  emphasis  given  to 
the  story  by  later  theologies,  the  reserve  in  the  New  Testament  is  like- 
wise most  signiiicant.  The  reason  is  clear.  The  age  of  gold  is  yet 
to  be.  Prophet  and  apostle  and  apocalyptic  seer  vie  with  one  another 
in  describing  the  glory  of  renewed  humanity  in  the  coming  kingdom 
of  God.  The  Jew  cannot  fasten  his  thought  on  a  shattered  fortune. 
The  brilliant  castle  which  he  is  yet  to  build  is  too  entrancing  to  his 
vision.  There  is  here  no  place  for  tears  over  the  remote  past,  but  only 
a  fond  looking  forward  and  working  toward  the  dawn  of  the  dav  of 
righteousness  and  of  peace. 

3.  I  have  spoken  of  our  indebtedness  to  the  Jew  for  the  Bible  and 
its  great  doctrines.  \Ve  are  under  no  less  obligations  for  certain  great 
institutions. 

(  i  )  Whence  comes  our  day  of  rest,  one  in  seven,  this  benefi- 
cent provision  for  recreation  of  man  and  beast,  this  day  consecrated  bv 
the  experience  of  centuries  to  good  deeds  and  holy  thoughts?  \Ye 
meet  with  indications  of  a  seven-day  division  of  time  in  an  Assyrian 
calendar  tablet,  but  we  are  able  to  assert  definitely  by  a  studv  of  the  Ass\  - 
rian  and  Bain  Ionian  commercial  records  that  these  peoples  had  nothing 
which  corresponded  to  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  the  verv  name  of  which 
means  rest.  The  origin  of  the  Sabbath  may  well  have  to  do  with  the 
moon's  phases.  But  the  Jew  viewed  the  day  with  such  sacreclness  that 
he  makes  its  institution  coeval  with  the  work  of  creation.  From  him 
it  has  become  the  possession  of  the  western  world,  and  its  significance 
for  our  well-being,  physical,  moral,  and  spiritual,  is  vaster  than  can  be 
computed. 

(2)  I  have  spoken  already  of  Jesus  as  a  Jew.  Then  is  the  religion 
which  bears  his  name  a  Jewish  institution.  It  has  elements  which  are 
not  Jewish,  it  has  passed  into  the  keeping  of  those  who  are  not  Jews. 
But  its  earliest  advocates  and  disciples  no  less  than  its  founder  were 
Jews.  Not  only  so,  but  these  all  considered  Jesus,  his  teaching  and 
the  teaching  concerning  him  as  the  culmination  of  the  Hebrew  develop- 
ment, the  fulfilment  of  the  Hebrew  prophet's  hope.  The  greatest  ex- 
pounder of  Christianity  writes  to  the  Romans  that  they  have  been 
grafted  into  the  olive  stock  of  which  the  Jews  were  branches  b\ 


nature.  Many  chuses  have  wrought  together  to  insure  the  victory 
which  Christianity  has  won  in  the  world.  But  those  who  are  filled 
with  its  true  spirit  and  who  are  thoughtful  can  never  forget  its  Judean 
origin. 

(3)  To  the  same  source  we  must  likewise  trace  institutional  Chris- 
tianity, the  church.  The  first  church  was  at  Jerusalem.  The  first 
churches  were  among  devout  Jews  dispersed  in  the  great  Gentile  cen- 
ters of  population.  The  ordinances  of  the  church  have  an  intimate 
connection  with  Jewish  religious  usages.  In  the  course  of  a  long 
development  other  elements  have  crept  in.  But  in  her  main  features 
the  church  bears  ever  the  stamp  of  her  origin.  The  service  is  Jewish. 
We  still  read  from  the  Jewish  psalter,  we  still  sing  the  themes  of 
psalmist  and  apostle,  the  aim  of  the  sermon  is  stfll  to  arouse  the  lis- 
tener to  the  adoption  of  Jewish  ideas,  we  pray  in  phraseology  taken 
from  Jewish  scriptures.  Our  Sunday-schools  have  for  their  prime  ob- 
ject acquaintance  with  Jewish  writings.  Our  missions  are  designed  to 
tell  men  of  God's  love  as  revealed  to  them  through  a  Jew.  Our  church 
and  Christian  charities  are  but  the  embodiment  of  the  Golden  Rule  as 
uttered  bv  a  Jew. 

4.  It  may  furthermore  be  fairly  said  that  the  Jew,  through  these 
writings,  doctrines,  and  institutions,  has  bequeathed  to  the  world  the 
highest  ideals  of  life.  On  the  binding  and  title  page  of  its  books  the 
Jewish  Publication  Society  of  America  has  pictured  the  lion  and 
the  lamb  Iving  down  together  and  the  child  playing  with  the  asp, 
while  underneath  the  picture  is  written  the  words,  "  Israel's  mission  is 
peace."  The  picture  tells  what  Israel's  prophet  saw  more  than  twentv- 
five  centuries  ago.  The  subscription  tells  less  than  the  truth.  Israel's 
misson  is  peace,  morality,  and  religion,  or,  better  still,  Israel's  mission 
is  peace  through  moralitv  and  religion.  This  the  nation's  lesson  to  the 
world.  This  the  spirit  of  the  greatest  characters  in  Israel's  history. 
To  live  in  the  same  spirit,  in  a  word,  to  become  like  the  foremost  of 
all  Israelites  —  this  is  the  highest  that  any  man  yet  venture  to  hope. 

I  have  catalogued  with  some  detail,  though  by  no  means  with  full- 
ness, Jewish  elements  in  our  civilization.  In  most  cases  I  have  passed 
no  judgment  on  these  elements.  If  one  were  disposed  to  inquire  into 
their  value  he  might  answer  his  question  by  trying  to  conceive  what  we 
should  be  without  the  Bible,  its  characters,  doctrines,  ethics,  institu- 


tions,  hopes  and  ideals.  To  think  these  elements  absent  from  our 
civilization  is  impossible,  because  they  have  largely  made  us  what  \ve 
are.  Not  more  closely  interlocked  are  the  warp  and  woof  of  a  fabric 
than  are  these  elements  with  all  that  is  best  and  highest  in  our  life  and 
thought.  If  the  culture  of  our  day  is  a  fairer  product  than  that  of 
any  preceding  age  we  cannot  fail  to  see  how  far  we  are  indebted  for 
this  to  the  Jew. 

Mv  purpose  has  not  been  to  inquire  by  what  means  the  little  nation 
of  Palestine  attained  to  its  unique  eminence.  Some  will  say  it  was  by 
revelation  made  to  them  alone,  others  that  they  were  fortunate  dis- 
coverers, and  vet  others  would  explain  it  all  by  the  spell,  "develop- 
ment." Be  one  or  all  of  these  answers  true,  the  Deity  can  reveal 
himself  only  to  the  choice  souls  who  have  understanding  for  the 
higher  thought ;  discovery  is  made  only  by  those  who  recognixe  a  new 
truth  when  it  floats  into  the  field  of  vision  ;  development  is  only 
growth  and  differentiation  from  germs  already  existing.  Why  should 
Israel  develop  unlike  other  peoples  ;  why  discover  truth  hidden  from 
others;  why  become  receptacles  for  revelation  higher  than  any  attained 
elsewhere?  This  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  history,  but  the  mystery 
can  in  no  wise  obscure  the  fact. 

However  explained,  or  unexplained,  the  Jewish  role  in  history 
belongs  to  the  most  splendid  achievements  of  the  human  race.  Alas, 
that  these  achievements  are  so  often  forgotten  !  Forgotten  by  the  [e\v 
himself  when  he  devotes  his  powers  to  the  problems  of  today  with 
such  intensity  as  to  be  indifferent  to  his  nation's  past.  Forgotten  by 
those  among  whom  he  lives  when  they  view  him  as  an  alien,  and 
when  in  the  enjoyment  they  fail  to  recognize  the  source  of  some  of 
their  greatest  blessings.  It  is  not  alone  the  land  which  was  discovered 
by  Columbus,  but  the  entire  world  owes  to  the  Jew  a  debt  of  gratitude 
which  never  can  be  paid. 

A  practical  closing  question  forces  itself  on  our  attention.  The 
great  role  in  history  was  played  by  this  people  while  it  had  a  national 
or  semi-national  existence.  At  present  the  Jews  are  separated  from 
the  rest  of  the  community  mainly  by  certain  religious  observances. 
Is  the  Jew  of  today  worthy  of  the  glorious  past  of  his  people,  and  is 
he  entitled  to  any  of  the  consideration  which  impartial  history  must 
accord  to  his  ancestors?  An  affirmative  answer,  if  it  can  be  jnven, 

c^ 

ought  to  do  something  to  remove   prejudices  which  yet  linger  among 


-us  and  to  alleviate  the  fortunes  of  the  Jew  in  lands  less  liberal  than 
our  own. 

The  ancient  Jew  was  a  man  of  persistence  and  of  moral  and  spiritual 
genius.  His  modern  brother  is  not  lacking  in  either  genius  or  persis- 
tence. His  persistence  and  power  to  recuperate  have  saved  him  from 
annihilation.  His  genius  shows  itself  chiefly  in  matters  of  finance,  in 
the  ability  to  turn  the  most  adverse  conditions  into  power.  In  litera- 
ture, art,  music,  philosophy,  he  is  of  the  community  at  large,  averag- 
ing high,  no  doubt,  but  with  nothing  distinctive.  In  the  world's 
markets,  in  commerce  and  trade,  he  distances  competitors. 

The  extent  to  which  he  educates  his  children  and  helps  his  poor  to 
become  self-supporting,  and  the  very  small  percentage  which  he  fur- 
nishes to  the  annals  of  crime,  give  to  him  a  high  character  for 
morality.  The  Montefiores,  Hirsches,  Emma  Lazaruses,  Jacob 
Schiffs,  and  Felix  Adlers  show  what  power  and  spirit  of  benevolence 
and  reform  still  belong  to  the  Jew. 

It  would,  perhaps,  be  too  much  to  demand  further  great  religious 
contributions  from  this  people.  But  the  genius  which  showed  itself 
of  old  in  the  realm  of  religion,  and  which  is  today  no  less  evident 
in  the  realm  of  practical  affairs,  may  be  again  expected  to  turn  itself 
more  and  more  to  the  noblest  living  and  to  the  amelioration  of  the  lot 
of  men.  Nothing  will  be  so  helpful  in  bringing  about  this  end  as  for 
the  Jew  himself  to  magnify  the  work  of  his  fathers,  and  for  the  rest 
of  the  community  cordially  to  recognize  what  he  has  done  and  what 
he  still  has  the  power  to  do.  It  can  hardly  be  that  a  people  of  such 
glory  in  the  past  and  of  such  present  power  shall  fail  to  attain  again 
to  that  eminence  in  the  highest  things  for  which  they  seem  to  be 
.marked  out  by  their  unique  history. 


UNIV.  OF  GALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 


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